Co-education climbed Mount St. James 40 years ago

Sunday

Feb 17, 2013 at 10:00 PMFeb 17, 2013 at 10:12 PM

By Bronislaus B. Kush TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

It was during the 1972-73 academic year at the College of the Holy Cross when “Charlie” began competing with “Hai Karate” as the scent of choice on Mount St. James. One had to wonder then whether razors on lavatory washbasins were used to trim beards or smooth legs.

It was four decades ago when the first women were admitted to the school as students. People associated with the Jesuit institution today said the decision not only secured but bolstered the school’s ranking among the nation’s most recognized small to mid-size liberal arts colleges.

In fact, some believe Holy Cross might eventually have closed had it not embraced co-education.

“I’m not sure the school would have survived another decade had it not welcomed women to campus,” said Jacqueline D. Peterson, the school’s vice president for student affairs and dean of students. “Diversity in education is so important. It helps students ease into the real world.”

The Rev. John E. Brooks, the college’s longest serving president, who died last year, once said the best decision he ever made was to prod school trustees to admit women.During the late 1960s and through the 1970s, many universities and colleges across the country had begun welcoming women students.

The decision to do so at Holy Cross came after years of study and after two other local schools of higher education — Assumption College and Worcester Polytechnic Institute — had already done so.

Holy Cross, founded in 1843, was the last of the many Jesuit colleges across the country to admit women, and, with the exception of some alumni, most in the school community welcomed the decision.

he college had already seen some momentous changes.

Rev. Brooks, for example, had begun successfully infusing the nearly all-white Irish Catholic school with African-American students whom he had recruited from across the nation.

Major changes were also made to the curriculum, and male students were no longer required to wear dress jackets and ties to class. Attendance at daily Mass was also no longer required.

School officials said the transition to co-education was nearly flawless.But that didn’t mean the first female students didn’t face obstacles.

“Those students needed a very strong social environment to survive,” said Theresa M. McBride, a history professor who joined the faculty in the fall of 1973. “The truth is that that first class of women excelled academically from the start. They consistently rose to the occasion of the faculty.”For the most part, officials said, the male students kept their manners.But the co-eds found other difficulties to cope with because the school, in many ways, still reflected the ambience of a men’s college.

Though it wasn’t discouraged, many in the male-dominated faculty found it surprising that some of the co-eds would express interest in studying math or the sciences. There were also few role models because there were not many female faculty members.

“There was a newness to this experiment, and many times these students found themselves swimming upstream,” said Ms. McBride, noting that when she joined the History Department there was only one other woman on the 17-member staff.

About 30 percent of the 1972 freshman class was made up of women, and there were also about two dozen female transfers from other colleges, 15 of whom graduated from H.C. in 1974.

The women who lived on campus took up residence on a retrofitted floor at Mulledy Hall. School officials said it cost between $500,000 and $750,000 annually over a four-year period to make accommodations for the women.

Ms. Peterson said the school also decided to hire more women to the academic and administrative ranks.

“There was even a belief that a woman chaplain should be hired,” she said.

Officials said many of the new women students had deep roots to the college and wanted to attend it because of its tough academic regimen and its steep Jesuit tradition.Dr. Marian F. Earls, who grew up in Worcester and who was one of seven women accepted under the school’s early-decision policy, was one of them.

Her father, Kevin, attended Holy Cross and her priestly uncle served as a dean on Mount St. James.

“To my dad, Holy Cross was the most fabulous place where one could study,” said Dr. Earls, a pediatrician at Moses H. Cone Memorial Hospital in Greensboro, N.C. “My sister went to Georgetown University, and I have told her that she attended a good Jesuit school but not the best.”

Dr. Earls, who received a master’s degree in theological studies at Harvard Divinity School before attending the University of Massachusetts Medical School, said there was “a special feeling” at her graduation in 1976, during which Mother Teresa received an honorary degree.

“I never felt isolated or out of place,” said Dr. Earls. “And I never had any trepidation about attending the school.”

With a chuckle, Dr. Earls said it was the male students who probably had to adjust to co-education.

Dr. Earls said her daughter, Naomi Earls Leslie, graduated from Holy Cross in 2000.“The only difference was that her generation dressed a lot better than mine,” she said.The decision to go co-ed drew more attention to the school, with Holy Cross, for example, having a 35 percent increase in applications in 1972. In 1971, it had experienced a 12 percent decrease.

More and more women applied, so that 58 percent of the class of 1989 was made up of females, the first time in the school’s history that women outnumbered men in being admitted to the school.

Women attending Holy Cross today said they are grateful for the efforts of “the pioneers from 1972.”

Melissa Montoya, a 20-year-old junior from Pawtucket, R.I., said the early 1970s were difficult times for women trying to get into college.

She noted it would have been difficult for her to pursue her dream of studying accounting back then because that discipline, 40 years ago, was a bastion for men.

“Those women did a lot to open doors for us,” said Katherine Grant, a 21-year-old senior from Bronxville, N.Y., whose mother also attended Holy Cross. “Like other women here, I feel confident, and, if want to, I can go into a room and speak my mind.”